Bar of the week: Out Of The Blue at The Berkeley

Every week, we scour the city to find the best bars our capital has to offer. Whether you're a cocktail kind of guy, or a man who enjoys a decent draft beer, there's a GQ-worthy drinking spot to suit every taste.

Valentine's Day ideas that are guaranteed to impress her

From gorgeous gifts to romantic getaways and the best places to take your beau out to celebrate, we've compiled the ultimate list of Valentine's Day ideas for her - as chosen by the women of GQ - to treat your better half with this 14 February

Bar of the week: Out Of The Blue at The Berkeley

Every week, we scour the city to find the best bars our capital has to offer. Whether you're a cocktail kind of guy, or a man who enjoys a decent draft beer, there's a GQ-worthy drinking spot to suit every taste.

Valentine's Day ideas that are guaranteed to impress her

From gorgeous gifts to romantic getaways and the best places to take your beau out to celebrate, we've compiled the ultimate list of Valentine's Day ideas for her - as chosen by the women of GQ - to treat your better half with this 14 February

Can you squeeze a baby in the back?

A baby? No problem. A sturdy pre-schooler or primary-aged child? All good. An inbetweeny-sized toddler, say your average two-year-old? No. It all comes down to infant car seat sizing and safety, which I’ve now spent so much time googling I'm qualified to deliver a PowerPoint presentation charting the different seat categories and their compatibility with supercars.

The smallest rear-facing baby seat would be fine – well, it would still be a ball-ache the same as any two-door, because you’d have to lean in at an angle, risking an unsightly coin-slot bum cleavage - but it’s helpfully got Isofix anchor points, so if you’ve got an Isofix base the job’s a good’un. Likewise, our four-year-old’s seat (a "Group 2/3" high-backed booster seat designed for children weighing 33lb +) went in nicely. However, the mid-point between those stages, when the child still requires a three-point harness but sits forward-facing in a bulkier seat ("Group 1"), is problematic. I can't believe I know all this shit.

Whatever, we couldn't get our seat in there in there. We're told that some Group 1 seats fit, but ours resolutely didn't. Believe me, my husband tried to get it in (it provided quite the Sunday morning spectacle for our neighbours who tried not to smirk at the sight of a man wrestling a child’s seat into an Aston Martin. What a prick). If you had to, you could disable the front passenger airbag and let your toddler ride shotgun, but the knowledge that the most common type of car accident involves a frontal impact sort of takes the edge off any excitement about taking them out for a spin. Our two-year-old was therefore ruled out of the DB11 experience.

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Does the baby stuff fit in the boot?

Our day-to-day pushchair didn’t fit (nowhere near) but the lightweight holiday stroller (the cheap sort you buy when you’re worried about the decent one getting mangled before it reaches baggage reclaim) squeezed in fine. As did the change bag and a couple of toys. You wouldn’t fit all the tackle for a family holiday in there but come on – it’s an Aston Martin DB11! It’s a Grand Tourer better suited to rumbling around St Tropez, not a half-term trip to Center Parcs.

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Can you change a baby inside it?

Technically, yes. I wouldn’t, though. Whenever the car is stationary for longer than thirty seconds people start coming over and taking pictures; and an emergency carpark nappy-change is stressful enough without worrying that a tourist is going to unintentionally photograph your baby’s poo-covered penis.

Can you get sick off it?

We didn’t have any Aston chunder incidents, thankfully, but you’d have no trouble wiping the seats clean. That said, I’d be on high alert if I spent too long with the interior we tested (cream truffle with a spectral blue trim, I believe). Striking, but probably less so with regurgitated spaghetti hoops on it.

How did your kids describe it?

“The Batmobile!” (Henry, age four). I think this was mostly down to the clamshell bonnet (which, if I’m honest, did make me moderately aroused).“Blue. Car. Vroom!” (Jude, age two). Then he cried because he couldn’t fit in it. Oops.

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Reaction from other parents?

Just the noise of the 5.2 litre twin-turbo V12 was enough to turn the heads of the other parents heading to a soft-play birthday party, and in S+ mode the engine start-up (the most powerful Aston to date other than the exclusive One-77) was the stuff of dreams. Wet ones. To be honest, this car had a phenomenal reaction, full stop. Sat in rush-hour traffic, I watched one man walk open-mouthed across the road, narrowly avoiding the path of an oncoming cyclist. It actually started to get a bit embarrassing because people would make comments like, “Fair play, love!” (“Fair play, mate,” if my husband was driving) and we just nodded our thanks, never seeming to find the words to correct their assumption that we owned it...

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Any good for mum and dad?

We were fighting over excuses to take the car out (“Oh no! We’re running low on baby wipes! Don’t worry I’ll go. No, I insist, let me go I’ve already put my shoes on.”) It’s a good job my husband isn’t having an affair (or perhaps if he is, he uses our shite hatchback as his inconspicuous affair car) as I unintentionally discovered exactly where he had been in the Aston when I browsed #DB11 on Instagram and found some car fanatics had "spotted" the car at Tesco in Crediton.

In my fantasy Euromillions-win garage (one of those underground setups) I think I’d have a DB11. Of course if we hit the jackpot tomorrow we’d still face the problem of not being able to squeeze our youngest child in the back, but we’d be minted so could just leave him with the au pair.

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Can It Baby? Verdict

Yes it can, but good luck if you own a toddler. Realistically, for a family this wouldn’t (and probably couldn’t) be your only car – you’d never get all your gear in – but if you were in the market for a brand new Aston Martin, this successor to the DB9 wouldn’t disappoint.